Galapoheros' picture thread

[Galapoheros]

I don't think I ever posted these pics of the moderatums mating, the male molting and sac making. I might have but don't think so. She lived in a 10gal but moved her to the deli to see the sac making thinking the size would be about right, a little big maybe compared to the bottom of her hole in the wild but it worked fine. You can look at them all here: http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r264/galapoheros/RGG/

 

[Ice Cold Milk]

That's an interesting way of doing it, putting her in a cup like that.
I suppose she felt quite secure and it made for a perfect area to web a sac.

Congrats!

 

[harmroelf]

Wow very nice pictures. I love how she webbed herself almost in the eggsack, it looks very funny. Nice picture sequence!

 

[Galapoheros]

lol! I couldn't help but laugh when I saw her do that When I saw her start spinning, I grabbed something to drink and eat and sat there for hours, it was better than a movie! It was really cool to see her pull the webbing off the sides, pack it around the eggs and shape it into a ball. I still have a lot of babies. One more molt and I will finally feed them baby dubia roaches. They've been eating fruit flies so far.

 

[Spyder 1.0]

. . .


Why the hell are you confining your T's to deli cups? Would that not stress them out causing them to eat the sac??

 

[Galapoheros]

. . .


Why the hell are you confining your T's to deli cups? Would that not stress them out causing them to eat the sac??

Not with Aphonopelma, they confine themselves to a thin tube in the wild. They prefer confined places. She was fine and defensive of her deli pad, even raised babies there. Think of what Aphonopelma would want to spin a sac in an unconfined place(?), or any other gravid T.

Also consider she spent non-nursing time in a 10 gal but stayed in her hole.

 

[Bosing]

Wow! Something new and different for me. Is this only true for Aphonopelma species? You moved her just in time! How did you know it was time?

 

[crawltech]

Also curious about timming, like Bosing said

 

[EDED]

never knew thats how they make an eggsac,,,i guess it depends on species style but thats the coolest thing ive ever seen for awhile.

what a good mother, didnt get stressed out or anything from pics or etc.

nice work Gala!

 

[syndicate]

It seems strange to me to keep adults in such small living conditions..even if it is only for her to lay in.
Its also not uncommon for WC spiders being imported to lay eggsacks in the tiny deli-cups there shipped in.

 

[VESPidA]

wow, what a beautiful spider. good luck w/ the sac!

i'm always amazed at how my Ts seem to molt in the most uncompromising of places... but they obviously know what they're doing. it looked like she had enough room to work, imo.

 

[Galapoheros]

I hadn't paid attention to this thread. Short version, I kept her in a 10 gal, she mated. I'd seen other Aphonopelmas make sacs in these tallish delis, so I started doing it that way and was hoping to document and take pics of the moderatum making a sac using the deli method. They start treating the delis like their holes, their home, sometimes even backing up and putting down silk where the lid is if you open a deli they are in as if they are putting webbing over their hole wanting no intruders. I even put one of the delis on it's side and watched one walk out several inches, I moved and the T ran as fast as it could back into the deli. As for the timing, I immediately took her out of her 10 gal she permanently lived in and put her in the deli after she mated, fed her a small Hisser nymphs, can't quite remember but maybe one every other day, nothing big, I let her eat many smaller meals instead. She became huge and stopped eating. That was the best time to clean her sac room. Took her out, cleaned, added new sub, it was maybe a week later she started the sac. I can't remember the dates of everything but I have it written down. Orin put it in his mag but don't know if you can order it anymore. But this short story is basically it. So then I put her back in the 10 gal but she never ate again and is in the freezer now. Which made me wonder if it's unique in the Tx Aphonopelma world for mods to create one sac and no more, or was it coincidence(?) She seemed very healthy after she had babies but was not interested at all in eating. I don't know if anybody as seen 2 sacs from the same moderatum ...anybody? The sac wasn't a recent thing, the babies were shipped to many places and people. I kept some and can't wait for them to molt this next time so I can switch to feeding baby dubia nymphs.

 

[BlackCat]

I'm curious why she would have been placed in the freezer for just not eating being that some tarantulas tend to fast for long periods of time? Unless something happened or she actually stopped eating for so long that she just died one day.

Pics are really cool though, I hadn't seen this thread before. Really interesting how she webbed herself up like that too! lol

 

[seanbond]

its obviously working for em guys

 

[Galapoheros]

I'm curious why she would have been placed in the freezer for just not eating being that some tarantulas tend to fast for long periods of time? Unless something happened or she actually stopped eating for so long that she just died one day.

.......she died, then went into the freezer.

 

[BlackCat]

I was so hoping that is what you meant LOL

 

[Galapoheros]

fresh moderatum sling molts

Just some pics, A. moderatum slings molting again!

 

[J.huff23]

How often do they molt for you? Not very often im assuming?

 

[Richard McJimsey]

Nice pics! What instar are they now?

How often do they molt for you? Not very often im assuming?

They're Aphonopelma, duh.

 

[Galapoheros]

Hehe, well I think they are hitting 3rd. Molting about once a year so far. I got a couple of geniculata slings for free and didn't know geniculata grew that fast! Crazy growth compared to aphonos.